The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) by James Boswell, in its 1990 Folio Society edition, is a lavishly produced homage to the greatest biography in the English language, marrying Boswell’s intimate chronicle of Dr. Samuel Johnson with the exquisite craftsmanship synonymous with Folio.
This edition elevates the original text—a vibrant tapestry of 18th-century wit, intellectual fervor, and human frailty—through period engravings, including Joshua Reynolds’ portraits of the morose yet brilliant lexicographer, all bound in full cloth or leather with gilt accents. Boswell’s genius lies in his novelistic detail, preserving Johnson’s thunderous pronouncements (“Hell is paved with good intentions”), his tender friendships with Hester Thrale and Edmund Burke, and his battles with melancholy. The Folio volume’s thick ivory paper and classic typography mirror the weight of Johnson’s legacy, while scholarly appendices contextualize Boswell’s groundbreaking “life-writing”—part gossip, part hero-worship, wholly revolutionary. A treasure for bibliophiles, this edition transforms the reading experience into a tactile journey through coffeehouse debates, Scottish tours, and the birth of literary celebrity.
